Cape Central inside game too much for Scott Central

Tuesday, January 3, 2012By Chris Pobst

Scott County Central junior Jaylen Porter fights for a loose ball against Cape Central on Friday during the third place game of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.(Photo by Chris Pobst, Staff)

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Scott County Central Braves could not contend with the size of Cape Central.

The Tigers' pounded the ball inside giving their 6-6 senior, T.J. Tisdell, and 6-5 sophomore, Jamal Cox, every opportunity they could to do work around the basket.

Cox rewarded the Tigers with a game-high 24 points as Cape Central cruised to an 81-67 victory over the Braves to capture the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament third place trophy.

"Our game plan throughout the year is to play inside out," Cape Central head coach Drew Church said. "They are very athletic and very quick, but we kind of had a size advantage. So we really wanted to get them in a half-court game and it really worked out where we were able to do some stuff off their press and score. It really was a higher scoring game and more up-tempo game than I expected."

The Braves, who have been the undersized team in almost every game they've had this season, kept pace with the physically dominant Tigers in the first quarter with outside shooting.

Scott Central hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter and was fairly successful in hitting outside shots -- something that had been eluding them throughout the tournament.

"Finally -- being the fourth day -- we did hit some shots," Scott Central coach Kenyon Wright said. "The kids played with some confidence and that was the biggest thing. It showed and that made a big difference on the offensive end."

Although the Braves found themselves tied with Cape Central at 23-23 after one quarter of play, the Tigers slowly started pulling away.

The fourth-seeded Tigers led 41-36 at the half, Although they cut Cape Central's led to just four points in the third quarter, the Tigers rallied for a 13-4 run to close out the quarter and lead 66-53 after three.

"We really wanted to make them beat us from the outside if they were going to beat us," Church said. "On the inside penetration, we needed to have help from both sides. They have two kids who can flat go and can get around you and score."

The Braves were led by LaMarcus Steward, who poured in 21 points. Dominique Porter added 18 while Jaylen Porter, who also pulled down six rebounds on top of having the duty of trying to guard Cape Central's bigs down low, scored 14.

Porter shot 53 percent (7 of 13) from the floor while Steward was 8 of 14 (57 percent).

"He's been a trooper all season," Wright said about Jaylen Porter. "He's been the one who's figured out his role on this basketball team better than anybody else has so far yet. You've got to take your hat off to him because he's probably almost the shortest one on the team, but he gets in there and he battles and he knows that is his job. And if he don't get in there and get it, we're going to get beat."

Using a huge fourth quarter, the Jackson Indians stole the fifth place championship away from the Leopold Wildcats on Friday during the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Down 36-30 after three quarters of play, Jackson outscored the Wildcats 21-3 in the fourth to take control.

Karson King led the Indians with 20 points while Josh Daume and John Meyer added 13 and 10 respectively.